Take Us Back
by easyl0ve
Summary: An unlikely duo find each other after the world ends. Lenore and the young Clementine (game) decide to stick together to make it through this new world. Everything has crumbled, but maybe together they can find some semblance of what once was, maybe family doesn't mean blood anymore and they can fill roles they thought would always be emptied. Eventual OC/Daryl, maybe even OC/Rick
1. Ch 1: Hide and Seek

**This story was inspired by the Walking Dead TellTale Video Game. Potentially the best, most emotional video game I've ever played (and I play so many video games). I felt like I had to write this, because I totally fell in love with little Clementine and I thought this up, so I hope you enjoy it. There are/will be some SPOILERS from the video game, maybe even the comic eventually (I like to try to include bits from the comics that don't appear the show sometimes, because why not pull from all parts of this universe, right?), so just a heads up. And just an FYI, this story will eventually be OC/Daryl (in a while), so if you're into that sort of thing you should stick around. )**

**The title comes from the closing song of the video game, "Take Us Back" by Alela Diane. [It's pretty beautiful.]**

**I only own my OC and chances are any other OCs that might pop up in the future. Basically, if you recognize something then it probably isn't mine.**

1: Hide And Seek

I don't know what I expected from the coast, Savannah, but I hadn't expected nothing. Only three months had passed and the city had been picked clean. No boats, no supplies, just the dead. _Maybe Georgetown will have something, anything, then I can make my way through Macon towards Atlanta through to Canada or something. _I turned the car around and made my way down the highway. Savannah had been my plan. It had been the goal; now I had no idea what to do.

Once I passed into the Georgetown border I started scouring the streets for a store that looked promising. I passed by a corner store and carefully pressed the brakes as the car rolled to a stop. I grabbed my bow from the passenger seat and took a deep breath.

Inside the store the isles were littered with the walkers. "Shit," I readied an arrow and pulled back on the string as hard as I could, wobbling slightly as I attempted to aim for the nearest head. Voosh, splat. The body fell and I repeated the process, reaching back into the quiver to get a new arrow each time. Thud, thud, thud. I was moving as fast as I could, but they were advancing. "Shit," I pulled out the large bowie knife from the sheath attached to my belt. I hated doing this. I carefully plunged the blade into the remaining skulls, trembling the whole time. Why do they have to look like people? Why do they have to stare at me like that? Once I finished with the last one I hunched over. No amount of cardio in the world could have prepared me for this life. No amount of desensitizing movies or television shows could have prepared me for the way it smells, the way they look, the way it feels to kill something, anything, even if it wasn't human anymore. "Why are there so many in here?" I looked around, expecting to find a fresh blood smear from some poor bastard who led them in here. Nothing. _I just need to get what I need and get the hell out of here._ I grabbed a towel from one of the shelves and cleaned off the knife first, then the arrows. This part always smelt the worst, the blood always smells the worst.

Thud.

I turned my head in the direction of the noise, wondering for a second if it had just been my imagination.

Scrape, screech.

It wasn't my imagination. I set one of the arrows in its place and crept towards the door at the back of the store. _It's probably just another one of those things, got stuck in that room, that's all. _I stood in front of the door and shifted my weight so I could kick the door in. Deep breath.

Creek.

The door opened and a small girl, no older than ten, peeked out from behind the door. She wore a baseball cap and two pigtails. She wasn't rotted. Her eyes weren't glazed over. She was alive. I lowered my bow immediately; it was only a little girl.

I put away the arrow and slid the bow over my shoulder before crouching down to her level, "Are you okay?"

Her voice was small, "I-I think so. I didn't know when it would be safe to come out again."

I looked past her into the room she'd been hiding in, "Where's your group?" Her head lowered slightly. Shit. Was she alone? I got down further and looked up into her sweet face, "It's just you?"

She nodded, "Yeah."

Shit. I might've been alone, but I was twenty-seven. I could handle myself fine, or at least I learned how to fast enough. But she, she was just a child, alone in a world like this. My voice cracked as I spoke, "Do you… Do you need any help or anything?"

There was a loud rumble from her stomach and she laughed as she held onto it, "I'm hungry."

I smiled back to her, "I have food in the car. You're more than welcome to have some."

"Really?" her face lit up further.

"Of course," I stood up, nodding to the counters, "First we should see whatever we can get from this place."

"Good idea."

I grabbed a bag from behind the counter and handed it to her, "Come on, but be quiet now." She nodded and ran over to the candy section. I couldn't help but chuckle as I went off to scour for myself.

But the time we headed to the car she was carrying two bags of her own and my backpack along with several plastic bags were filled to the brims.

Once we set everything into the back of the SUV she whispered over to me, "Where did you get all this stuff?"

"Everywhere," I smiled down at her as she pulled out something from the pocket of her sweater. A Gun.

I could see how her hands shook as she held it, "All I have is this now, and my hat."

"I don't have one of those," I motioned to the gun and she held it up to me as if she wanted me to take it, but I refused, "No, you better keep it."

Her face darkened, "I don't like it."

"We should try to get out of the city before we eat."

"Okay," I grabbed a candy bar from one of her bags and opened the passenger door for her, "I get to sit in the front?"

"There's more room for you up here," I helped her into the seat. She looked so small compared to the broad back of the leather. "Here," I handed her the candy bar and shut the door before jogging around to my own seat and turning the key. I tossed the bow behind the center console and stepped on the gas.

"Is that a bow?" her words were muffled by the food in her mouth, "Like in Robin Hood?"

"It is," I glanced over to her, "I am only just getting the hang of it, though. They are harder to use that I thought."

The rest of the way we sat in silence, but neither of us seemed to mind. I was happy to have company and she seemed to be happy enough just to get a chance to eat. _Maybe we could travel together?_ I rolled the thought over in my mind as I weaved through the overturned cars, and the more I did the more I wanted her to stay. In the thirty minutes since we'd met she'd already made me laugh. I hadn't laughed since this all started. And she had stayed alive this whole time. She could probably teach me a thing or two about surviving. Once we reached a relatively desolate area I pulled over and picked out a few energy bars for each of us, as well as some water. I handed her half of what I grabbed and started to dig into my own rations.

Mmmm. Grammhph. We both happily ate, and I tried to savor each bite. Even though I had saved up plenty of food I had always tried to keep my intake to a minimum. Conservation would be important now.

Once she was done I noticed her messing with the hem of her sweater. Her voice was almost inaudible, "Do you think…"

She paused and I took my chance to ask her, "Would you like to stick with me for a while? Maybe we can find your family?"

I saw her eyes tear up, "My parents aren't here anymore."

"Oh," I looked back down at the last bit of granola, "I'm sorry, little lady."

She wiped her face with her sleeve, "Me too."

"Hey," I snapped my head to face her, "What's your name?"

"Clementine," she smiled, "What's yours?"

"Lenore," I smiled back as I popped the rest of my meal in my mouth.

Her giggle echoed through the car, "That's an old person name."

"That's what I always say," I took a fast sip of water, "You can call me 'Lenny' if you want."

"Okay… Lenny."

I looked back at the road. We had stopped at a fork. "Where are you headed?"

"I don't know," her shoulders hunched, "I just know I'm supposed to stay out of cities." No wonder she'd stayed alive this long; she was probably more intelligent than most adults.

"That's very smart of you." I could tell that my compliment helped her, because she immediately relaxed a bit. I sighed as I stared down either side of the street before us, "I don't know where I'm going anymore either."

"Oh."

I shifted in my seat to face her more directly, "Want to wander with me for a bit? I'll share my food with you, try to make sure you stay safe."

When she looked at me she had concern all over her, "Are you a good person?"

"I'm not perfect," I looked towards the bow for a slit-second and considered all the corpses I'd killed to stay alive. Maybe that made me a bad person. I looked back up to her, the corners of my mouth upturning slightly, "But I won't hurt you. That's a promise."

"You don't mind?" I could see insecurity on her face, "Having me around? I'm just a kid."

I patted the top of her head, "I think it would be nice to have you with me, Clementine." She smiled and buckled her seatbelt up again. "You feeling better now that you've eaten something?"

"Yeah," when she smiled over to me I felt better than I had in months, "I feel a lot better now."

"Then let's head out," I turned back towards the steering wheel, "You buckled in?"

She tugged on the seatbelt, "Yep."

"Good. So which way," I nodded to the road ahead of us, "Left or right?"

She was quiet for a while before she spoke, "I forgot which is which."

"Sometimes I forget, too," I tilted my head towards her, "There's an easy way to remember that. See, hold out your hands like this," I held out my hands in front of me, sticking out my index fingers and thumbs, and she mimicked me. I lifted up my left hand slightly, "See how this one looks like an 'L?' That means it's the left."

She held both hands up in front of her with a proud expression on her face, "Oh, that's so easy!"

"Isn't it?" I turned the key in the ignition, "So, which way, Captain Clementine?"

She looked over to me, unsure, "Left?"

I nodded and stepped on the gas, "Left it is."

**Hope you enjoyed this chapter enough to follow and maybe even review. :) I really like this idea [and my Annie Get Your Gun story is coming to a close pretty soon, and I still want to write TWD story], so I hope it gets at least a few readers. THANK YOU!**


	2. Ch 2: Miles Behind Us

**New chapter! Thank you anonymous guest for letting me know to put this in the crossover section! I did just that (obviously). Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoy this new chapter! **

2: Miles Behind Us

In the short time we had spent together we'd already formed little routines. Whenever we got on the road I'd have her pick out a CD to listen to. Then, once we got going, we'd roll the windows down so the wind could run through our hair. At crossroads, I always turned to her to tell me which way we should go, since we were in no hurry to get anywhere. We'd play 'I Spy' for a while, until we got bored. Eventually we would stop for the night to eat dinner and get some rest. Then we'd talk about everything that had happened. She told me about her time in the first grade, her tree house. She told me about her parents, Ed and Diana. She told me about everything that happened after Lee showed up at her house. And I'd tell her about my childhood. How I hadn't spoken to my parents for almost a year when this all started. I told her about the boy I fell in love with when I was too young. How he never really loved me, but I was too afraid of being alone to leave him. I told her about how when I was young I had this vision of how I wanted my life to be. I had wanted to create something, anything, make a difference in the world. I had wanted to go places, but life has a funny way of throwing you off track.

Our talks often lasted deep into the darkness. She didn't always completely understand what I was telling her, but she always listened. And I always listened to her. In those ten days we'd both grown to know just about everything there was to know about each other.

After driving west through Griffin we came across a small cluster of stores, but what stood out to me most was the bar. An American flag was still waving and there was a nice round sign hanging in front of the building, The Carriage Bar. In every city we'd gone through the bars seemed to be crowded with walkers, but not this one. I assumed it was because Griffin was so small. On either side of the road trees and green covered the landscape giving the illusion of peace. If I hadn't known better I'd say this place had never been touched by the plague; but there were subtle signs. A layer of dust and dirt covered the windows of every building. Every lawn looked shabby with the lack of gardening.

This town was dead.

First we rummaged through a place called Shrugg's Hardware, picked up a few hammers and crowbars. We got around to the home improvement section, cans of paint everywhere, and from the look in Clementine's eyes I knew she wanted one. I grabbed a few brushes and the best paint they had. "It'll have to be white," I looked down at her lit up face.

"Why?"

"Because at places like these they mix the color in with this," I pointed to the paint mixer.

"Oh," I could see that she was disappointed.

"Let me check something," I looked under the counter and down bottles of the mix-ins. Black, red, yellow, and blue.

"Why don't they have purple or pink?" She scanned over the bottles.

"With these four you can make any color there is," I stuffed the paint into a nearby store bag, "They're called primary colors, because all colors come from them."

"Like primary school?" she asked as she filled a bag with paintbrushes.

"Exactly." After we dropped our things off in the back of the Suburban we made our way into The Carriage Bar. "Keep a lookout," I hopped behind the bar, "I'll just be a minute." I filled the rucksacks I brought in with me with the contents of the top and mid shelves, leaving a few spare bottles for any wanderers that might pass through.

As we walked back to the car, Clementine perked up, "What are we going to do with all that stuff?"

"Well," I patted the bottom of one of the bags, "I think we're long overdue for a pick-me-up." She nodded, but confusion still covered her face. Once I set the bags down in the back seat I pulled out one of the bottles to show her, "And this stuff… One day you'll be old enough to drink it, and it'll be better if we have a few bottles of the good stuff stashed for when that day comes."

"Won't that be a long time?"

"Yeah," I put the bottle back and grabbed another bag from my collection, "But time's a bit weird nowadays. It'll be here before we know it."

We started to walk towards the next row of buildings; "It's been ten days since I met you."

"Already?" I smiled down at her, "Do you like being with me?" A smile crossed her face and she nodded up at me. It was moments like this that made me glad I'd made it this far. "Good," I tapped the bill of her hat, "I like being with you, too." I glanced up at the sign above us: Steve's Pharmacy.

Clementine stepped onto the walkway before me, "Look!" She pointed at a sign in the window. 'TAKE WHAT YOU NEED AND GOD BLESS,' was written in marker on a large piece of poster paper. "The people who wrote this must've been nice."

I nodded as a smile wormed its way across my lips, "Maybe they have some candy in there."

"I hope they have chocolate."

"Get your gun ready, there might be people inside," I placed my hand on the handle of the door, "Ready?"

"I think so," she fumbled with the large gun in her hands.

I gave her a nod, "Stay close to me, just in case." The door stuck slightly as I opened it. It must've been weeks since anyone had been in here. I scanned the shelves quickly. Picked over. Once I looked around to make sure we were alone I stumbled upon the candy section. "Hey look," I picked up one of the candy bars and wiggled it at her, "Hershey's."

She walked over to join me, "Cool."

"Let's just grab 'em all." I started piling the sweets into my bag.

Her tone turned worried, "Are you sure?"

"Plenty of room in the car."

"We should leave some stuff," she put the bar in her hand back onto the shelf, "In case someone else comes here."

I had to admire her. She never took everything, like I had done before we met. She never wanted to. She always wanted to leave some for someone else. I put a few of the ones I snagged back onto the shelf too, "Good idea… We have a lot of stuff anyways."

-o0o-

When I turned onto the interstate a large gust of wind passed through the car, whipping my coffee colored locks around my face. Clementine messed with her hat, "What are we going to do when we get to Atlanta?"

"I don't know," I tilted my head slightly, "Did you want to visit your house?"

"I—I don't think so." There was a sadness to her voice that cut into me. I hated the thought of her being sad; the only thing worse was knowing that there wasn't anything I could do about it.

"We can always just pass through," I peered over at her from the corner of my eye, "Like in Macon. Or we can even go around it, if you want."

"Okay," she seemed more comfortable with that idea. A mile passed in silence before her small voice came over the gusts, "Do you miss your family?"

"Yes," I spoke honestly with her, "Do you?"

"Yes."

"When I found them I just left them," I hadn't told her the whole truth before, "I couldn't do it."

Then she said something that surprised me, "Neither could I. But I… Lee."

"You said he didn't want to turn," I reached over and patted her shoulder, "You didn't want him to turn either."

"But I still," she paused, "I shot him."

"If I get bitten I'll do it myself, so you won't have to, I promise."

She turned towards me, worry in her watery eyes, "I don't want that to happen."

"I know you don't," the left corner of my mouth crooked up as I took my eyes off the road for a second to look at her, "But we have to be prepared for it."

"I know." When I looked forward again I saw a large graveyard of cars. "Oh no."

"Maybe there's a way through?" I scanned, hoping that the wide Suburban might be able to make it across to the other side of the pile-up. I stopped the car, once more asking for directions from my new partner, "Should we go for it?"

She nodded, sitting up straight in her seat now, "We can always turn around if we have to."

"Exactly." I began slowly inching the SUV through the sea of cars. As we snaked for minutes on end I began to think we might just make it through the whole thing without having to stop. Then we ran into a problem, "How much room do I have on that side?"

She held up her fingers, gesturing only a few inches of space, "Not a lot."

"We can probably make it if we move some of the cars," I put the car in park and turned off the engine. We both stepped out of the car and joined up at the hatchback.

"Do you think we can move them, just us?" We walked over and looked into one of the abandoned vehicles.

"Yeah," I joined her, "Maybe we can find some useful stuff in 'em, too?"

The car she'd been looking at had two decaying bodies in the front seat. "I guess these people won't need anything anymore," there was a snag in her voice and noticeable tears in her eyes.

I rested my hand on her back, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"What happens when you die?" She looked up at me, and I had no idea what to say. How do you answer that? To a kid? To someone you want to protect, and keep happy?

"No one knows for sure," I crouched down to her level.

"Oh," she looked down at the ground and wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

I continued, "But I like to think that whatever happens, it's peaceful. Maybe it's like sleeping."

There was a small upturn to her lips, "And the bad people get nightmares, and the good people get sweet dreams?"

I nodded, "Could be." I knew she was satisfied with that answer because she immediately went off and began looking through the cars. I did the same. It wasn't long before I heard her voice over the quiet Georgia afternoon.

"I found something," I stood on the edge of the car I was looting and looked over to her, "An ax." She held it up and I jogged over to her.

I extended my hand, "Can I see?" She handed it to me and I rolled it over in my hand and assessed it. "This is really light weight. What do you think?" I handed it back to her.

She mimicked what I had done just moments before, "It is."

"Do you want it?" I pointed down at it, still in her hands, "It'll help keep you safe."

She smiled, "Okay."

I looked past her, "Here, let's see if they," I began ransacking the car she'd found the ax in. In seconds I found the sheath-like belt that went with the ax. "Here we go," I held it up. I secured the belt around her waist and helped her put the ax in its new place, "Perfect."

She wore a big smile now, and when she spoke I could hear happiness, "I'm going to see what else I can find." She skipped off to another car.

I called out after her, "Be careful." I knew she'd be careful. Clementine was always careful. She was smart when it come to life nowadays, and even though I still worried about her a part of me knew she'd be able to handle herself. I roamed the cars for a while, picking out guns and bullets, unopened bags of chips, anything that we could use. Then I found it, "I knew there'd be one of these." I stared at the large SUV, not unlike my own, and inside there were insane amounts of supplies. Here we had an over prepared survivalist. I opened the front driver's side door and the body fell out. Guess all that preparing didn't count for much this time. I took his guns, his food, his tent, everything and loaded it into our car.

"Look what I found," Clementine tugged on the hem of my tank top and held up a fancy looking pair of binoculars.

"Those'll come in handy," I knelt down and prepared to give her a boost onto the roof of our car, "Hop up and tell me what you see."

Once she was up she held the large binoculars to her face. It took her a while before she answered me, "Just lots of cars."

I nodded, "How far through are we? Half-way?"

She turned to look back the way we came, "I don't—Walkers!" She quickly dropped the binoculars so they would hang around her neck.

I helped her down and then reached into the front seat and grabbed my bow and quiver, "How many?"

"A lot," her eyes were glued back the way we came, "Like in Savannah."

"We gotta hide," I looked around for anything to crawl in, under, or on top of. I raised the bow a couple inches, "Maybe I can pick a few off as they pass."

When I looked back to Clem, she was pointing to a large U-Haul, "Up?"

I nodded, "Up." First I helped her climb onto the hood of the car, then up to the roof. We crouched down and looked into the distance. "I'll shoot, and you keep watch with those."

She held the binoculars up to her face once more. "I think there are people over there," her hand raised, index finger extended.

"What?" I squinted.

"There's someone on top of an RV like Kenny had."

"RV?" I looked down at her as I readied an arrow, "We didn't pass an RV."

"See!" She held the binoculars up so I could look through. She wasn't lying. A few football fields away there stood an RV and atop it was a man with white hair, standing hunched over like we were.

"Okay," I knelt down and pointed the bow in the direction the horde was coming from. I whispered to her, "We gotta be quiet for a while. If it looks like they noticed us, just tap me on the shoulder." She nodded and then the waiting began. It took only a few minutes before the mass of walking corpses was upon us. I aimed. One down. New arrow. Aimed. Two down.

I went through every arrow I had; fifteen dead, but I had barely even cut a chunk into the group. Once I ran out of arrows to fire I laid on my back beside Clementine. She kept looking through the binoculars as I looked up at the afternoon sky. The groans and growls, the staggering footsteps, it all started to fade as I looked up into the blue.

A couple minutes after the sounds had disappeared Clementine stood up, "They're gone."

"Good teamwork," I sat up and held my hand up for a high-five. Smack, she high-fived me. I stood up with her on top of that truck and looked over the mess of abandoned cars towards to RV, "What do you want to do about the others?"

"We should at least try," she nodded to herself, "Maybe they're friendly?"

"Okay," I hoped onto the hood first, and turned around to help her down, "But if you feel weird, you let me know."

Once we were both down we looked over at our car, "Do we take the car?"

I thought for a few seconds. Would it be safe? Would it be a good idea to risk everything we've found? No. I shook my head, "Not yet." She nodded as I knelt down to pull one of my arrows from the eye socket of one of the walkers I took down only minutes ago. "Can you grab those and wipe them off?" I motioned to a group of my victims and she hopped over to them.

I heard the sounds of her taking the arrows out as I did the same, then there was a faint, "Gross."

I looked over to her, smile on my face and a laugh in my voice, "I'd think you'd be used to it by now."

She shrugged, "The sun makes them smell extra bad."

Just then I caught a whiff of the body at my feet. I held my nostrils together as I looked back over to her and spoke again with a nasal voice, "I completely agree with you." Her face brightened and a giggle escaped from her. Whoever this group was, even if they didn't end up friendly they'd never be able to hurt her. I'd never let them.

**I'd love to know what you think of this story! Let me know either via PM or review! **


	3. Ch 3: Everything's Going To Be Okay

**New Chapter! Hope you enjoy. :)**

Chapter 3: Everything's Going To Be Okay

As we started to walk the distance to the mystery man on the RV I grew worried. It was like with each step a large stone was placed in my stomach to both weigh me down and make me feel sick at the same time. What if this guy is bad? What if he's a cannibal like those people Clem told me about? What if he tries to kill us? At least we didn't bring our supplies. Just my bow and knife, and Clementine had her gun and ax. It was a precaution we'd decided to take to make us less of a target. Still, I felt like maybe we should have a plan going into this instead of going in with just our good intentions.

I looked over to her as she walked beside me, "So how do you want us to play this?"

She looked over at me and stopped, "What do you mean?"

"What lie should we tell them?" I leaned against a nearby car, "We had a group? Bandits got us? What?"

She shook her head, "No, lying is bad. That's what my mom used to tell me."

"Okay, then we'll stick to the truth," a smile pulled over my face. I knew she wouldn't want to lie; that was just the kind of person Clementine was. Good. Honest. The last of a dying breed in this new world it seemed. I kicked off the car and held up my hands, "Put your hands up like this and we'll start yelling to them."

She held her hands up, "What are we going to yell?"

"Don't shoot?" I asked in a half-chuckle. It seemed such a stupid thing to say, don't shoot, but it was the only thing that really meant anything in situations like this. It might buy us a few seconds, long enough for them to see that we aren't a threat.

"Okay," she nodded and we walked another hundred yards before we started shouting out to the RV.

"DON'T SHOOT!" We waved our hands above us, "WE'RE FRIENDLY!" We stopped waving as the rest of the man's group started to come into view, "DON'T SHOOT!"

The man on the RV lowered his weapon and shouted down beneath him, "She's got a kid with her!"

We rounded a car and came face-to-face with what appeared to be the rest of him group, coming to a stop when I saw the gun pointed directly at my forehead. A man's voice spoke, "That's close e-" There was a pause.

The gun then lowered and I saw the man behind it, "Sh-Shane?" My hands slowly lowered back to my sides.

A woman's voice came from the doorway of the RV, "Lenny?"

I looked over to the sound. There she was, looking exactly like she did the last time we saw each other. I felt the sting of fresh tears behind my eyes, "Lori?"

"Oh my God," she ran over to me and brought me into a hug, "I can't believe it's really you." It took a few seconds for the shock of seeing familiar faces to wear off, allowing me to regain control of my limbs. My arms wrapped around my old friend's shoulders. She spoke into my ear, "Is Jeff…?" I pulled away immediately. Jeff. Jeffery Grimes. The one person I never wanted to hear about again. I looked into her eyes, trying to hide my anger, and shrugged to tell her I didn't know. Truth was he could be alive or dead by now, walker or food, and whatever fate fell upon him was no longer any concern of mine. Her hand went to cover her mouth, "What happened?"

"He," I squinted my eyes shut for a second, getting my last vision of him out of my head, "He left me." She seemed shocked, but I couldn't figure out why. Jeff had been my fiancé for years, but we all knew the truth about why he was with me. I felt a tug on my shirt and turned around. Clem was standing there, looking uncomfortable as ever. Whatever anger or sadness had taken over my face was gone in an instant and replaced by a toothy grin of pride, "This here is Clementine."

"Hi," Clementine's voice was soft as she waved at Lori and then the rest of the group.

"We found each other a little while ago," I put my hand on her opposite shoulder and stepped closer to her, "Been sticking together ever since."

Lori turned to address the other members of the group, all of which had thankfully lowered their weapons at this point, "Lenore here was my soon to be sister-in-law."

Shane let out a loud laugh, "Been engaged for what? Five years?" Of course he'd be the one to laugh about it. We grew up on the same block, and even though I was more than a few years younger than him we'd always had an odd sort of friendship. He'd make fun of me; I'd make fun of him. He was like the older brother I never had. It was strange that after everything that had changed in the world that friendship would be one of the few things still intact.

I squinted my eyes in fake anger, "Yeah, well I'm not anymore."

The attention turned back to a woman looking into the woods, sobbing. Lori quickly made her way over to her. "Don't worry," I saw her pat the thin woman's back, "Rick'll bring her back."

I glanced over at Shane, "What happened?"

"A herd came through," he pointed to the woods, "A couple walkers went after Carol's daughter, Sophia. Rick went after them." I noticed Clementine inch closer to me, and I did the same. The others' all looked off into the forest.

"The herd passed us too," I nodded up towards the top of the RV, "Made like your buddy up there and camped out on the top of a truck."

Clementine held up the binoculars that were still around her neck, "I kept watch with these, and Lenny shot some of them." I patted the broadside of the bow that still hung over my shoulder.

Shane, for the first time since I'd met him, looked somewhat impressed as he leaned against the RV, "Didn't know you knew how to use a bow."

"I didn't," I laughed and then started to explain as Clem and I took a spot in the shade beside him, "It was the only ranged weapon I could find. My gun was stolen and the store in town was cleared out except for this, so I learned." I noticed one of the others in their group, a man, take a quick glance at me as I continued, "Worth it, too. Now it just makes sense. Quiet and I don't have to waste ammunition. Win win."

Clementine leaned off the RV to look over at Shane, "She's really good. She can even hit them in the eye now, at least most of the time."

"That so?"

She nodded, smile growing, "She's going to teach me how when we find another bow."

I patted her shoulder before looking back over to Lori and the worried woman, Carol. Standing just beside them was another kid, probably just a few years older than Clementine. Then it hit me, "Is that Carl?" His head snapped over to us when he heard his name, "You've grown up so much since the last time I saw you," he had a blank expression on his face, "Probably don't remember me, but I was with your uncle when he'd come to see ya."

I heard Lori's voice come in stern, "Carl, say 'hi' to your Aunt Lenny."

"Hi," he immediately turned back to his mother, "Is Sophia going to be okay?" Just as soon as the words came out of his mouth Rick emerged from the tree line, alone.

Carol was the one to speak, "Rick!"

He all but ignored her, his focus going to various group members as he said their names, "Shane, Glenn, Daryl, you three come with me." And just like that the four men had disappeared back into the forest. Lori slowly brought Carol over to sit in the shade of the RV.

"Can we…" I jumped at the sound of small voice beside me as she talked to Lori, "Can we be a part of your group?"

Lori's face looked over at us, and for a second I wasn't sure if we'd get to stay. Then a smile ran across her face for a brief moment, "Of course, sweetie. You're more than welcome here."

I looked to the others in the group. A blonde haired woman, the old man in the hat that had once been on top of the RV, a large black man with a makeshift bandage on his arm, "We'll pull our own weight." I got slight nods from all of them before stepping back into the sun and starting our walk back to the Suburban.

The older man called out to us, "Were are you two off to?"

"Going to go get the car," I pointed in the direction we'd come, "Scavenge up the highway a bit."

His voice took on the tone of a wise man, "Just be careful." We nodded back.

After getting fifty or so yards into the mess we heard footsteps approaching fast. When we turned the blonde woman came to a stop, panting, "Can I join you two?" I looked down to Clem who nodded, then I nodded to the girl. She smiled, probably relieved to get time away from the sadness and worry that was with the RV, "I'm Andrea."

"Nice to meet you," I motioned beside me, "This is Clementine and I'm Lenore. Call me Lenny, though." I turned and continued the walk back to the car.

She did a few exaggerated nods, "So how long have the two of you been traveling together?"

Clem beat me to it, "Almost eleven days."

Andrea seemed surprised, "Who were you with before that?"

"I was alone."

"I was with Lee."

She looked to Clem, "Your father?"

"No," her face fell, "My parents are dead."

"Look," I interrupted, trying to keep Clem's mind on something happier. I tapped on the window of a car; "There might be some good stuff in here."

She scurried over to my side as I opened the front door and popped the trunk. When we met at the back of the blue sedan I saw that her face had completely lit up, "A backpack!" She held up the small bag, which seemed to be made of a durable canvas.

I smiled back at her as she handed it to me, "It's just your size." I unzipped the top; empty. "Let's see if we can fill this thing before we get back to the car."

She nodded before we started back on our walk. Once we got closer to the car we began looking closer at the cars we passed. "I'm going to look in that one," she pointed at a Honda Civic.

"Okay, we'll look at this one," I opened the door of another full sized car and Andrea started looking through it with me.

"You're really good with her," she picked out the cans of food and put them on the roof before pausing, "Did you have a daughter of your own?"

"No," I shook my head as I scoured the glove compartment for a handgun. Nothing. I let out a sigh, before looking over to her, "Jeff… Jeff didn't really want a family with me. He just didn't want to be alone."

She shifted her weight to her back leg, "Shit."

"That's not even the worst of it," I let out a laugh as I went back to work, "When they first told people to evacuate to Atlanta he told me he never loved me and knocked me out with the butt of my own gun."

"Oh my God," she was just standing there looking at me now.

"When I came to every useful thing we had was gone," I raised my finger with a head tilt, "And he took my car."

I shut the door where I'd previously been hunched over as she spoke, "What a bastard."

I smiled over at her, glad to finally have someone to vent to that fully understood, "My thoughts exactly." Clementine's feet could be heard running over to us, so I turned to see what she was so excited about, "Did you find anything good?"

"I found this," it was another ax, "Now I can have two!"

I nodded, "Anything else good?"

She shrugged and we started to move on before her words stopped up, "What's MRE mean?"

Andrea face became ecstatic with joy, "You found MREs?" Clem nodded and we suddenly found ourselves running back to the car she'd been at. There they were. A giant box of them.

I held up one of the packages, patting Clementine's hat, "This is perfect. We'll grab these when we drive back."

Her face was still filled with confusion, "What are they?"

Andrea intercepted, "It stands for Meal Ready to Eat."

I continued for her, "These here are dehydrated, so we just add some boiling water and viola, food." Clementine nodded a few times before I bent down a bit, "They'll be good to put in our backpacks we have in case if we ever have to leave the car."

**Let me know what you think about this one! REVIEWS MAKE ME A HAPPY WRITER! The whole Jeffery Grimes thing seemed like the right way to go. (Those of you familiar with the comic will know that he's mentioned a few times.) :)**

**THANK YOU FOR READING!**


	4. Ch 4: Family Matters

**Hello! New chapter! I hope those of you who read this enjoy! [I've been working on this story, getting the next ten or so chapters planned out and starting to write it all so that I can give you guys a better story overall.] I'd love to hear your thoughts on this thing, how you think it's going, if it's alright or utter shit, the usual. **

_**A special thank you for the various Guest reviews this has gotten. They've helped me with proper placement of this story (crossover) as well as dealing with various plot potentials. SO THANK YOU! **_

**ENJOY!**

Chapter 4: Family Matters

"You all have a lot of stuff in here." I looked up from my feeble attempt at organizing our haul from that afternoon to find Shane peering past me into the back of my car.

"We scavenge," I shrugged, "Take what we can wherever we go."

Clem spoke up from her seat on the ground next to my feet, "Especially the candy."

I looked over at him as he smiled down at her, "Well that's just good sense." I couldn't help but be glad we'd run into him. Not only had Shane been an old friend who could shoot a gun, but he'd always been nice to me, even when we were just two kids making fun of each other as we walked home from school.

Finally I gave up on trying to organize the mess that was our supplies, and shut the tailgate. The three of us made our way over to stand with the rest of the group.

Carol's sullen voice echoed through the cars, "It'll be dark soon"

Andrea reassured her, "They'll find her."

"Don't worry," I was surprised when I saw Clem walk over to the distraught woman, "I was all alone for a long time and Lee found me. I was alone even longer before Lenny came. She'll be okay." Clementine was right; surely this little girl could make it on her own for a little while too.

The woman wiped off her face and looked to Clementine, "Were you in the woods too?"

"Not all the time," she looked over to the trees, "It's safer in the woods."

Whatever tenderness that moment had provided the group was cut short by Andrea's angry voice. "Where's my gun?" I looked back to see her speaking to Dale, "You have no right to take it!"

His voice was calm when he answered her, "You don't need that just now, do you?"

"My father gave it to me. It's mine." It seemed like the most ridiculous thing in the world to be arguing about, a gun. I'd survived months without a gun, and even now that I had several locked up in my car I still never really brought them out. Guns were loud. Guns use ammunition, and that runs out quick. But most importantly, in unpracticed hands guns can be even more dangerous than they were already intended to be.

"I can hold onto it for you," he was trying to reason with her, God help him.

"Or you can give it back to me?"

Shane made his way over to the squabble, "Everything cool?"

"No, I want my gun back."

I could see worry on Dale's face, but I couldn't understand why it was there. "I don't think it's a good idea right now."

"Why not?" Shane asked him.

"I'm not comfortable with it."

Andrea scoffed at his response before Shane came in as the voice of reason, "The truth is, the less guns we have floating around camp, the better."

"You turning over your weapon?" Her words oozed with attitude.

Shane just laughed at first. "No," she scowled before he could continue, "But I'm trained in its use. That's what the rest of y'all need is proper training. But until that time I think that it's best that Dale keeps them all accounted for."

Clem looked up to me, pulling the gun out of her sweater slightly, "Should I?"

"No," I shook my head, "That's yours. Plus, you're a good shot."

She seemed as worried as Dale, "Are you sure?"

Carol, who was still standing close by, spoke up, "You let her have a gun?"

I shook my head, "I don't_ let_ her do anything, we're partners. We make decisions together. And she had it before I met her." I could sense Carol's concern, so I quickly quelled it, "The guy she was with before me taught her to shoot it. She's safer with it."

"Maybe I should have, with Sophia…" She trailed off, again looking back to the woods.

"When she get's back maybe Clem can teach her how to shoot? Right?" I smiled at Clementine.

"I don't think I'm that good," he head dropped a bit before picking back up, "But I can try."

Carol smiled ever-so-slightly at her, "She'll like having a new friend."

"Oh God, they're back." We all looked over at Glenn who was carrying a box of junk food, then to the tree line where the two men appeared. It was just them. No Sophia.

Carol's voice whimpered, "You didn't find her?"

"Her trail went cold." It was weird seeing Rick as he was now. He was scruffy and his eyes seemed so tired, unlike before when he was in a state of being constantly clean cut and joyous. He continued, "We'll pick it up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own," there were tears in her eyes, "To spend the night alone in the woods."

The other man spoke next, "Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost." He had a point. Trying to find someone was hard enough in the daylight; nighttime would just make things worse.

"But she's twelve. She can't be out there on her own." I couldn't help but want to disagree with her. I had proof that Sophia could last out there standing right beside me, but maybe Clementine was just smart. I didn't know Sophia, I couldn't know for sure if she could find a way to survive out there. When she turned to Rick there was anger in her tone, "You didn't find anything?"

I could see the pain on his face as he answered her, "I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there."

"And we tracked her for a while," the other man added.

"We have to make this an organized effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

"Is that blood?" Carol begins to freak out as she looked at the man who I could only assume was Daryl. There was blood on his clothes as well as Rick's.

Rick answered for him, "We took down a walker"

This did nothing for the worried woman, except cause her to panic more, "Walker?! Oh my God."

"There was no sign it was ever anywhere near Sophia."

Andrea stepped forward, "How can you know that?"

"We cut the son of a bitch open, made sure."

"Gross," Clem scrunched up her nose at Daryl's words and I couldn't help but silently make an overly disgusted face at her to match it. It might've been an inappropriate time for joking, but I knew that she'd be worried for the girl and I wanted to do something to keep her mind at ease.

"Oh God," Carol looked down at the ground for a moment before looking back up to Rick, even more furious now, "How could you just leave her out there to begin with? How could you just leave her?"

"Those two walkers were on us. I had to draw them off. It was her best chance." As Rick pleaded his case I could see the look on Carol's face. There would be no winning with her. She was a woman with a missing child; there would be no making this right until Sophia was back. I had this nagging thought chiming at the back of my head though; why had she not gone after her daughter? If Clementine… I wouldn't hesitate. I would go after her with everything I had.

My thoughts shook away when Shane stepped up to defend him, "Sounds like he didn't have a choice Carol."

"How was she supposed to find her way back on her own? She's just a child. She's just a child." I glanced down to Clem, whose face looked confused. When we met she told me she worried that she was a burden because she was _just a child._ I let her know that wasn't how I thought of her. I patted the top of her head as we listened on.

"It was my only option. The only choice I could make."

"I'm sure nobody doubts that," Shane glanced around quickly and I noticed the way his eyes lingered on Lori a bit longer than everyone else.

"My little girl got left in the woods."

"She'll be fine," I reached out to pat her back, "Like Clem said, the woods are safer."

She jerked away from my hand and snapped at me, "You don't know that."

"Lenny?" I heard Rick's faint voice.

"They are," Clementine looked to Carol, "In the cities there's at least one of them in every room," she paused and I could tell she was remembering the last time we were in a city, "Sometimes there's more."

"She's only twelve," there was no getting to her, "Out there on her own, in the dark."

"She'll be fine," I tried to explain but Rick's voice came back louder.

"Lenny… Lenny is that you?"

I looked over to Rick with a weak smile, "Hi, Rick."

"Jeff?" His eyebrows rose hopefully as he took a step towards me.

"He," my hand flew up to the back of my neck as the discomfort set in, "We went our separate ways."

"I thought you said he knocked you out and stole your gun and your car," Andrea's words hung in the air for a second before anyone else spoke.

Shane turned to me, "He did that to you?"

"I," I tried to think of what to say. I hadn't wanted to tell Rick all of that, at least not like that. I sighed, "He's your brother, I didn't want to say anything to you."

Another heavy silence fell, then a soft voice spoke, "I'm Clementine."

A smile immediately crossed my face as I looked down to my side where she'd been glued. I placed my hand on her back and looked back up to Rick, "We found each other outside of Savannah a ways."

"That's where your parents live now, right?" Shane asked and I gave a small nod. "Did they…?" I shook my head before he could say the words.

Clementine reached over and held onto my hand, "My parents were there, too." It must have occurred to them just how much we'd gone through before reaching them, because they all slowly dispersed after that.

"See, we're the same," I knelt down, seeing the small trace of tears in her eyes. I pulled her in for a hug, "It was like we were supposed to find each other."

-o0o-

The main problem and ironically also the main advantage with looting through buildups of cars is the vast variety of supplies you can find. This is great because we can find anything from guns to clothes and blankets and most of the other things crucial to survival out here. The problem though is trying to keep track of everything we find. It all normally gets piled up in a big mush of a stack in the back of the Burb because we never really have any free time to sort through it all.

Tonight I got my chance. First thing I wanted to focus on was picking out the food from everything else. We'd already put all the MREs and most of the haul from today in the RV, but my car was still full of various bags of chips and protein bars. Not only did I want to sort it all out, but seeing as it was our first night in this new group I wanted to provide everyone with some food.

From the corner of my eye I could see someone approaching us, "What are you doing?" I turned around to see Glenn, eyes intently looking into the mess of food stuffs I was sorting through.

"We're new," I smiled over at him, "So dinner's on us tonight."

"You guys don't have to do that," he said the words, but his eyes looked longingly into the pile.

"Don't worry," I held up the nearest bag of chips, "Most of it's stuff we picked up today."

"Are those Cheetos?" His eyes looked as though they were going to glaze over with joy.

"Yeah," I examined the bag more closely, "Puffy too. My favorite."

"Mine too."

"Here," I tossed the bag over to him.

When he caught it he just sort of stared at it for a while. His voice came back comically airy, "Are you sure?"

I nodded, "Just make sure you leave a handful or two for me."

He looked down at the bag again, then back up to me, "Thanks."

"Can you send everyone this way, maybe?" I did a scan of the group, spread out in various cars, still scavenging, "Let them know?"

"Sure thing," he started to walk off before stopping just in front of Clem, who was perched on the bed of a truck with her legs dangling off, "Hey, kid."

"Hi, Glenn," her smile was wide as she swung her legs.

"You remember me? From the drug store in Macon?"

"Yeah," she sat still for a moment, "I'm glad you're safe."

"I'm glad you're safe, too." He started turning away, but then faced her once more, "Do you know what happened to the others?"

She looked down at the ground, "They died."

"Oh," he glanced over to me, clearly feeling guilty for even bringing it up. Then he smiled slightly, "But you found Lenny, right? That's good."

Her head lifted up, and she started swinging her legs again, "Yeah, it is."

Before he left he gave me a bit of a nod. I walked over to her and handed her one of the chocolate protein bars and a bottle of water for dinner, "So that's the Glenn you told me about?"

"Yeah," she unwrapped the bar and started to eat, "I didn't know if he'd remember me."

"Of course he'd remember you," I leaned against the car as I bit into my own bar and the first of the group members approached to get their share of the food.


	5. Ch 5: Around Every Corner

**Hello! New chapter! Just in time to get us all pumped for the finale! :))) Hope you enjoy, and thank you for reading! You are more than welcomed (encouraged actually) to review with your thoughts and critique, so I can provide better chapters for you in the future! **

**HERE WE GO. ENJOY!**

Chapter 5: Around Every Corner

I don't think anyone besides Clem and me slept that night. I don't know if it was because neither of us knew the little girl lost in the woods, or if it was because we'd just become so used to tragic events like these that we'd both become numb to it all. Either way, when we all gathered around a nearby car we were the only ones who looked even remotely rested.

With a thud that caused Clementine to jump slightly, Rick dropped the roll of various weapons on the trunk of the car before giving clear instruction, "Everybody takes a weapon."

"These aren't the kind of weapons we need," Andrea immediately spoke out in an annoyed tone, "What about the guns?" -Andrea

"We've been over that," Shane's own annoyance was obvious even to the members of the group who hadn't known him as long as I had, "Daryl, Rick and I are carrying." He turned to me, "Lenny, you got a gun?"

I nodded towards the Suburban, "In the car, but I don't normally carry any of them though."

"You sure you don't want to carry? You've always been a decent shot." I shook my head and he let the idea go, "Good, can't have people popping off rounds every time a tree rustles."

"It's not the trees I'm worried about."

"Say somebody fires at the wrong moment, herd happens to be passing by. See, then it's game over for all of us." Surely she couldn't argue against that logic? Right? She didn't seem to, "So you need to get over it."

"It's better to use weapons like these," I tried to back him up, "They're quiet, and most importantly, you don't need to reload a knife."

"That's easy for you to say," she snapped at me next, "You have a bow."

I raised my eyebrow at her, sliding the bow from my shoulder to offer to her, "If you know how to use it I'll let you borrow it while we're out there?"

"I don't," her eyes narrowed and I couldn't understand how she'd done a complete 180 in just one day. I thought she'd liked us?

"The idea is to take the creek up about five miles, turn around come back down the other side. Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark."

"Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you, but always stay within sight of each other." Something about how Rick was stating such an obvious thing concerned me. I couldn't help but look towards Clementine and wonder if we'd joined the wrong group, if we were better off without these people, even if some of them were my old friends. But maybe I'm just being overly critical.

"Do I get to go too?"

Her voice was quieter than it normally was, which made me raise an eyebrow, "Do you want to?"

"I think I do," she looked off into the woods, "Do you think it will be safe?"

"I'm not sure," I shrugged before poking her side, "I might need backup out there."

"I already packed my bag," she picked the backpack we'd found the day before from off of the ground with a smile, "Just in case."

I patted the top of her head, "Just stay close, like usual, okay?"

Then she got this annoyed look on her face as she sighed, "I know."

I immediately backtracked frantically, "I know I keep saying it, but I just don't want us to ever get split up."

"I know," her face snapped into a devilish smile, "I was just joking."

I narrowed my eyes down at her immediately, "You're getting awfully good at pretending to be mad at me," I took a few steps and grabbed my own bag, "I'm not sure just how I feel about that." She just laughed, like she almost always does.

-o0o-

The sound of our footsteps was dulled by the loose dirt and leaves at our feet. Every step has a soft pat, like a light drum keeping tempo of our efforts. I could hear faint chirps and the light rustle of the leaves in the treetops above me and I felt I could breathe easy, if only a little. I've always enjoyed the way nature had this way of relaxing me. It had always been that way. Whenever Jeff and I would fight or when he'd ignore me all I would have to do is slip out to our terrace and soak in the outdoors. Even now it helped me, even with such a shitty situation weighing over everyone. A lost child. I'd never been so close to this kind of tragedy; I'd only ever seen it on the news. Now it was here, it was so close to me and all I could do was try to help. All I could do was try to help and keep an eye on Clementine.

Clementine, her baseball cap still snug on her head and her ax gripped tightly in her hands, was never more than a few feet away from me, just like when we went off like this before. Her gait, the hesitancy in her steps, I could just tell that she still wasn't comfortable with everyone. She was holding back like she did the first two days we were together. If she hadn't occasionally looked over at me, a small smile on her face as we followed close behind Daryl and Rick at the front of the group, I would have gotten worried, doubted the decision to join this group, even if I knew a few of its members. But ever few steps we'd look at each other, reassure the other that we were okay or just smile.

After a while we came to a tent propped up in-between a few trees. Nothing about it, to me at least, screamed that anyone had been around for some time. There was no fire, not even dying embers on the ground. It just seemed like it had been abandoned, just like everything else I came across the last few months.

Shane caught up and whispered towards the men in front, "She could be in there."

Daryl stepped forward a few paces, "Could be a whole bunch of things in there."

I heard Clementine's soft laughter at my side and couldn't keep myself from joining her. We were careful to hide our amusement at Daryl's words from the others. That's what Clem and I did. Even in the few days we'd been surviving together we had this way of laughing with each other. Her laugh was infectious, impossible to combat, and when I chuckled she'd join me. I think that is just what happens when two friends go through tough times; we just had to try to find the humor in things.

Rick, Shane, and Daryl started towards the tent, and I pulled my bow off of my shoulder and readied an arrow. I exchanged a look with my partner and she nodded up at me, ax ready. We followed the men, sticking behind them a few yards with steady steps.

"Carol," Rick turned back towards the others, "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

Carol stepped forward timidly, "Sophia, sweetie? Are you in there? Sophia, it's Mommy." As she softly called out Daryl started to unzip the tent, "Sophia, we're all here, baby. It's Mommy."

Once he was in Shane and Rick immediately start to cough. It was seconds before the odor reached Clem and me. Our faces soured in unison and she spoke up, "I know that smell."

I knew that smell too. It smelled distinctly of dead guy. I reached over and pulled Clementine closer to me as we turned away. She wasn't going to be in there.

Carol's voice became frantic, "Daryl!? Daryl?"

He stepped out, "It ain't her."

"What's in there?" Andrea stepped forward, trying to look past him and into the tent.

"Some guy. Did what Jenner said. Opted out. Ain't that what he called it?" -

I looked at the others as they started to walk off, "Jenner?" I slid the bow and arrow back into their resting places.

"Fella from the CDC," Daryl clarified as he walked past Clem and me, "Blew himself up."

"Oh," I looked down towards Clem, whose face had fallen into worry.

"_Opted out_." I gripped her shoulder a bit tighter and she looked up towards me, "Like what I said I'd do if I ever got bit." I made a 'gun' with my hand and attempted a funny miming of me shooting myself in the head, making a silly face when I pulled the trigger.

"This's different," Daryl said over his shoulder, "Wasn't bit, just wanted to end it."

"You won't do that right?" Her voice had urgency and stress in it, I could only guess it was from what she'd told me that woman who was in her old group did.

I shook my head at her, "And miss out on getting to hang out with you? Never in a million years." I tapped the bill of her hat, "You won't do that either, right?"

"No." Her face was still worried.

"Good," I walked closer to her after that as we continued on in our search for Sophia.

We only had a few moments before the sound of distant church bells filled the air. It was crazy to see the others take off running, like there was a fire or something. Clem looked over at me and I nodded to her. We would proceed with caution, several yards behind the others. She had told me about her time in Savannah, about Molly and how she used the bells to lure walkers in from miles around to free up the streets. This could be someone doing the same thing, but out here it seemed like a strange thing to do. The forest wasn't packed with biters; it was quiet almost.

Shane yelled over to Rick, "What direction?"

He pointed in one direction, "I think that way. I'm pretty sure."

He was back to running before Shane could respond, "Damn, it's hard to tell out here."

Carol's winded voice had glimmers of hope in it, "If we hear them, then maybe Sophia does too."

"Someone's ringing those bells," Glenn seemed a bit more apprehensive, "May be calling others."

"Or signaling that they found her?"

"Or tryin' to draw walkers in," I mumbled down, meaning to speak only to Clem, but in front of us Daryl's head snapped towards us.

Rick was already dead set though, "She could be ringing them herself, Come on."

We jogged behind the others and before long we came to a clearing that housed a church and a small graveyard. The others barreled through the headstones towards the building, but I whispered over to my buddy, "Be careful not to step on them." From the corner of my eye I saw her nod as she followed behind me through the narrow pathways that led through to the open field.

"That can't be it. Got no steeple, no bells," Shane yelled ahead, "Rick!"

His information did nothing to stop him, though. Rick kept running and so did everyone else. They ran right up to the church's red door, ran right through it and into the church itself.

When Clem and I caught up the three zombies that were inside were already taken care of.

Shane started to explain it to Rick again, "I'm telling you it's the wrong church. It's got no steeple, Rick. There's no steeple. "

The loud bells rang through the large room, and everyone, including Clementine and me, immediately turned to run outside.

When we rounded the corner we found the source. "A timer. It's on a timer," Daryl panted.

I took a deep breath and looked down at Clem, "Guess it's noon." She nodded up at me. This was good news. This meant no one was luring the walkers in. It was just a timer. It was just sheer dumb luck.

"I'm gonna go back in for a bit." When I looked over to Carol she seemed crest-fallen. She must've gotten her hopes up that she'd be here. I pitied her.

Once she was inside I turned to Clem, "Did you want to go in, Clementine?"

"Why?"

"I don't know," I shrugged, "Talk to God?"

She gave me a skeptical look, "I thought God could hear me wherever I am?"

"That's true," I nodded; smile growing, "But churches are like megaphones. Make it easier for him to hear."

"I'm okay." I saw her gaze shift towards the graveyard we'd passed through, "Can we go over there?" She pointed.

"Of course," I patted her back and we walked silently across the field towards the headstones.

When we reached the most ornate of the headstones she stopped, voice as sullen as I'd ever heard it, "My parents don't get to have one of these."

Her words hit me harder than I would have expected. I could see faint tears forming in her eyes and I reflexively put my arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry," I gave her a pat, "Mine don't either." She looked like I felt. More than sad, defeated. I nodded to the grave before us, "We could always just pretend that this one is theirs?"

"Will that work?"

I nodded, "If God can hear us anywhere, then I bet our parents can too."

"There are flowers over there," she looked towards the edge of the forest where a small patch of wildflowers had overgrown.

I smiled, realizing what might help us. "Come on," I led her through the cemetery and we stopped near the densest patch of the flowers. I started picking, and eventually she caught on, collecting hers in her hat while I made a basket of my shirt. I picked mainly the white ones, and a few of the yellows; they seemed bright and happy, I think my parents would have liked them. Clem was picking up all the purple and blue. Eventually we stopped and made our way back to our makeshift memorial. I set my flowers, arranging them as best I could on one side of the stone while Clem did the same opposite me. She was crying. At least I thought I saw her crying through tears of my own. I couldn't help it. I was thinking about my parents. Mom and Dad. Gone. I tried not to think of the way they looked when I last saw them, but I couldn't keep the visions from coming back. The way they looked so decayed. The way they lunged at me. I didn't want to remember them like that. I wanted to remember them from before, from when I was Clem's age. I wanted them to stay like they were then forever. I wiped the tears from my face and stood up, "Want to say something?"

Clem's teary face looked to me and gave a small nod before turning back to the grave, "I miss you." I lost it then. I couldn't help it. I was sobbing there, gripping the crook in my left arm with my right hand as tightly as I could as my shoulders convulsed. I could barely hear what she said as she continued, "I'm strong now. And I met really nice people who've helped me stay safe. Like Doug and Lee and Lenore. But I just wish… I wish you were still here."

"Ed and Diana," I forced my eyes open, "I just want to let you know that I'll do everything I can to keep your Clem safe. You raised a smart girl, she'll make it through this."

There was silence next, then she broke it, "Now it's your turn."

I nodded, tightening my grip even more as I clenched my left hand, "I'm sorry I wasn't there in time." I closed my eyes again and hung my head, voicing my sins, "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you enough. I'm sorry that I didn't end up like who you wanted me to be, like who I should have been. I'm sorry I didn't make more of an effort. I'm sorry I left you like that." I batted the tears off of my face, looking at the flowers, "I wish I could've had more time with you."

"Natasha and Eric," Clementine stood close beside me now, I didn't realize she'd walked over to me while I was talking. She reached to my hand and held it, "Thank you for making Lenny. We'll keep each other safe."

I looked at her, eyes still raining, "We will."

"Hey," we snapped towards Daryl's voice. He was looking at the grave, "You know him?"

"No," I admitted sheepishly, "We're just…"

Clem picked it up for me, "Our parents don't have graves."

He nodded and paused before continuing, "They're calling us back."

"Okay," we nodded at him and he left back towards the group, who'd now come together under a tree. I squeezed the hand in mine as I looked back to the flowers, "Clem, you ready to go?"

"Aren't we supposed to say goodbye?"

The corner of my mouth twitched up briefly, "Yes." I spoke quickly, but carefully, trying to imagine my parents with me, "Bye Mom and Dad. I love you."

"Bye," her voice was softer still, "I love you. I won't forget you."

We walked over to the group still holding hands; I don't think I could've kept it together without her there with me.


	6. Ch 6: Two Enter, One Leaves

**New chapter! Hope you enjoy it. Thank you for reading, I'd love to hear any feedback you have (good or bad). **

**ENJOY!**

Chapter 6: Two Enter, One Leaves

The summer heat was getting to me as it sometimes did, or maybe it was our still fruitless search for Sophia. In any case, as we made our way through the Georgian woods I was beginning to wish I were back in my old air-conditioned home. But that was gone now, just like everything else.

Carol's voice rang through the scattered group, "So this is it? This is the whole plan?"

"Guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups."

"Ten men enter, one man leaves." I smiled to myself, "Thunderdome times five!" Clementine turned around to look back at me confused. I shrugged, realizing she might never understand what I said, "It's from a movie."

"Carrying knives and pointy sticks." I glanced over to Andrea who was now staring at Lori, "I see you have a gun."

"Why, you want it?" I couldn't help but smirk to myself. I'd known Andrea for less than a day, and from what I'd seen she was obsessed with guns. Lori held the gun out for her, "Here, take it. I'm sick of the looks you're giving me." From the corner of my eye I saw Glenn; he looked as uncomfortable as I felt at the situation. Confrontation, eww. Andrea took the gun, and Lori continued, "All of you except those two." She nodded over to Clem and me. There was a lull before she spoke, this time to Carol, "Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through. And I would do anything to stop it. But you have got to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him." She wasn't lying. All day Carol was glaring at Rick like it had been his fault that she didn't go after her daughter. "When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions he had to make, or than anybody could have done it any differently." She looked around the group, "Anybody?" When I caught her eye I shook my head. She knew that I trusted Rick, I always have and I always will, but I wanted to reassure her. "Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

After a few silent seconds Andrea handed the gun back over to her, "We should keep moving."

The rest of the others started moving forward, and I noticed Clementine run to the front and trail a few yards behind Daryl. I almost called out to her, but changed my mind almost immediately. He seemed safe enough to be around, maybe even more so than myself. "Hey Lori," she looked back to me, "You need anything, to talk or anything, I'm here."

She smiled back to me, her voice hiding a laugh, "Just like back in high school."

I caught up to her and held the straps of my backpack, "Only I'm not that awkward freshman anymore."

She shook her head, "Don't think I'd have ever called _you _awkward, you've always been beautiful, even back then when you were a good year younger than the other kids in your grade."

"Not like you," I shrugged with a sigh, my eyes now glued to Clementine's back, "All the boys just loved you. Especially… Jeff…"

I felt a hand pat my shoulder, "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"Don't be. I knew what I was getting into," I forced a smile as I looked back to her, "I just figured maybe he could learn to love me after you married Rick."

Before she could say anything a single gunshot rang through the trees, causing everyone to pause for a moment, all holding our breath.

-o0o-

"You still worrying about it?"

Lori's eyes showed the same fear they'd been carrying for the past mile, "It was a gunshot."

"We all heard it."

Lori continued, "Why one? Why just one gunshot?"

Daryl shrugged, "Maybe they took down a walker?"

"Please don't patronize me. You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one walker. Or Shane. They'd do it quietly."

"Maybe they found some fresh food?" I tried to turn Lori's thoughts towards something more positive, "Caught us a turkey?"

Clementine smiled at me, "Like Thanksgiving?"

I winked at her, "Exactly."

My attempt at lightening the mood was shut down by Carol's next words, "Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?" We all knew that they should have, but no one said anything for a reason. I guess Carol lacks that kind of tact.

Thankfully Daryl chimed in, "There's nothing we can do about it anyway. Can't run around these woods chasin' echoes."

Lori took a sip from her water bottle and looked to him, "So what do we do?"

He just shrugged, "Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway."

"Stick to the plan," I patted her on the shoulder to encourage her, "That way they'll know where we are."

Andrea nodded, "I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV." Then she stood by Carol, "I'm sorry for what you're going through. I know how you feel."

Her words seemed to calm Carol down some, "I suppose you do. Thank you." She was back to her worried expression in seconds, "The thought of here out here by herself… It's the not knowing that's killing me. I just keep hoping and praying she doesn't wind up like Amy." I looked to Lori, who shook her head and mouthed to me that she'd tell me some other time. Carol's hand flew to her mouth, "Oh God. That's the worst thing I ever said."

Andrea didn't seem to let whatever it was affect her though. She just gave her a heartening smile, "We're all hoping and praying with you. For what it's worth."

Then Daryl spoke up, stepping forward, "I'll tell you what it's worth… Not a damn thing. It's a waste of time all this hoping and praying. 'Cause we're gonna to locate that little girl, she's gonna be just fine." I couldn't help but completely agree with him. All of the worrying and complaining and hoping was just eating up time. I felt a smile spread wide over my face as he continued, "Am I the only one zen around here? Good Lord."

As he kept on going the direction we'd been headed since we'd left the churchyard my eyes were glued to him. He was nothing like the others. He wasn't timid or afraid. He wasn't a victim. He was funny. And he wasn't bad to look at. As soon as the thought crossed my mind I saw Lori looking at me from the corner of my eye. She rose her eyebrows at me and glanced to Daryl and back, a mischievous smile on her face. I just rolled my eyes, "Oh, shut up."

"Lenny?" I heard a small voice and looked down to find my baseball-hat wearing companion at my side.

Lori smiled at her, "What is it, sweetie?"

Clem looked from Lori back over to me, "I have to pee."

"Here," I scanned the nearby bushes for something for her to use. I found some wide leaves and handed them to her, "I'll be right here, if you need me just tell me." I leaned against a nearby tree as she ran to the other side. I gave a few sharp whistles towards the others who'd already started on, "Hold up for a minute."

-o0o-

We'd been walking for what felt like forever in the Georgian heat. Even the shade of the trees didn't provide that much of a break for any of us, but somehow we just kept on going. No matter how hard I looked there was no sign of the little girl we were looking for. No broken branches on trees, no footprints, nothing. Eventually we heard Daryl call back, "We'll lose the light before too long. I think we should call it." Once we had all gathered where he'd stopped I noticed Clementine standing by him, mimicking his stance.

Lori nodded in agreement, "Let's head back."

"We'll pick it up again tomorrow?" Carol's voice was still weak, but had a slightly hopeful ring to it.

"Yeah," Lori smiled at her, "We'll find her tomorrow." We started walking back towards the highway when Lori called over to me, "Hold up a second, Lenny."

"Don't want to straggle," I slowed, but didn't stop.

"They'll be fine," she waved at the others. The distance between us and them had already grown substantially, but they were still in eye-sight, "I saw you lookin' at him."

The right corner of my mouth curved up slightly as I laughed, "Lookin' never hurt anybody."

She joined me for a bit. I think we both needed a bit of comic relief after the day we'd had, and I knew she'd be worried about Rick and Carl. She poked my side, "So how long's it been?"

I choked on the air I'd just been breathing, "Excuse me?"

"You know," her old up-to-no-good smile was back, just like when we were kids, "How long's it been?"

I let out a long sigh until all the air had left my lungs, "Close to a year now."

"What?" She practically yelled, and I saw a few of the heads in front of us turn back. She continued, regaining her whisper, "But it's only been a few months since…"

I cut her off, "Yeah… Well, Jeff never wanted that from me." It felt like we weren't in the forest looking for a little girl anymore. It felt like it wasn't the end of the world anymore. It felt like we were just two old friends catching up, and I knew I had to take advantage of that, advantage of finally having someone to talk to about this stuff who understood what it all meant, "Every time we… I had to practically force him, especially after that thing happened. So I figured I would be happier if I just gave up."

We walked a few minutes in silence after that. I wasn't sure if I'd over shared or not until she broke the quiet, "He's a nice guy."

My eyebrows furrowed and I snapped my head to look at her, "Who?" She nodded up to the front of the group. "Oh," I watched as Clementine trailed after Daryl, imitating his every move. I caught a few glimpses of the smile on her face. "It's probably not a good idea for me to be thinking about that right now. I've got Clem to look after."

"He could help," Lori must've seen exactly what I was seeing, "She seems to like him, too."

"Yeah, she does." When my eyes met Lori's she had that smile on her face, the one I knew nothing good could come from, the one that had gotten me into trouble more times than I could count. I punched her arm, "Come on, I only just met the guy."

She shrugged, "Whatever you say. It was nice just to get to dish about something else, other than all of this." We both picked up the pace to rejoin the main group, "How much farther?"

Daryl answered, probably because he was the only one who actually knew how far we were from the road, "Not much. Maybe a hundred yards, as the crow flies."

Andrea spoke, fatigue showing in her voice, "Too bad we're not crows."

"I'm a crow," Clem held out her arms as she smiled at me and began flapping them. She cawed repeatedly in a whisper as she ran off.

"Don't get too far ahead," I called after her.

"I know," she cawed back.

The next thing we all heard was a scream. And we all rushed to the sound. There was Andrea, lying flat on her back with a walker on top of her. I started to ready my bow when there was a loud galloping. Then a woman on horseback came and hit the zombie off of the still screaming Andrea.

She brought the horse to a stop and spoke down at her, "Lori? Lori Grimes? Whoa."

Lori stepped forward, "I'm Lori."

The woman turned to her, "Rick sent me, you've gotta come now."

"What?" Lori seemed just as confused as the rest of us.

The mystery woman continued, "There's been an accident. Carl's been shot. He's still alive, but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you, just come."

Carl's been shot. That was all I could hear. Carl's been shot. That was all I could hear, and that was all Lori could hear either. She didn't hesitate to step up to the horse as the woman pulled her up behind her.

Daryl stepped forward, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa. We don't know this girl. You can't get on that horse."

The woman continued, "Rick said you had others on the highway. That big traffic snarl?"

Glenn was the only one of us who could manage words, "Uh-huh."

"Backtrack to Fairburn Road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox. The name is Greene. Hyah!" And then they were off.

We were all still reeling from the whole experience when the groans of the walker broke the silence. The thing sat up just in time for Daryl to shoot it, "Shut up."

I stifled a laugh along with Clementine as she ran forward and retrieved the arrow, wiping it off on the grass before handing it to him, "Here."


	7. Ch 7: Hounded

**New chapter! It's short, but 'them's be the breaks.' I still hope you enjoy this! :) Please review with your thoughts and criticisms (I am working on a few short stories and I'd love some critique on my writing style/etc. So whatever you offer me is greatly appreciated!) T_HANK YOU FOR READING! ENJOY!_**

Chapter 7: Hounded

The last fifty yards took no time after the mysterious woman took Lori. We were all worried. We were all confused. We all wanted to get back to the highway and figure out what to do next. Clementine didn't leave my side for that time in the forest. She must've known I was worried. Carl had been shot. Shot. Not bitten. Not lost. Not a twisted ankle. Shot. How did that even happen? That must've been what was going through everyone else's heads too. How does a kid get shot? And someone was trying to save him? It was all a lot to take in.

Dale didn't have anymore luck than the rest of us. The first words out of his mouth were my thoughts exactly, "Shot? What do you mean shot?"

Glenn spoke to him as the rest of us climbed over the rail and onto the road once more, "I don't know Dale, I wasn't there. All I know is this chick rode out of nowhere like Zorro on a horse and took Lori."

Dale leered at Daryl, "You let her?"

He came back at him, "Climb down out of my ass, old man. Rick sent her. She knew Lori's name and Carl's."

Next Dale turned to Andrea, "I heard screams. Was that you?"

Glenn kindly fielded the question for her, "She got attacked by a walker. It was a close call."

"Andrea, are you alright?"

Andrea, who had already walked past him and was almost to the RV, looked back, and with an undeniably pissed off expression shook her head.

After a few minutes everyone went about setting their supplies back where they once came. Clem and I were sitting on the back of one of the abandoned cars, eating our energy bars. I don't know what I said it aloud, but for whatever reason I voiced my straggling thought to no one in particular, "Why's everyone so dead set on her not having a gun?"

"Back at the CDC," I jumped slightly at the sound of Daryl's voice. I hadn't expected anyone to answer, let alone him. Clem and I both looked towards him as he continued, "Was gonna opt out."

"Oh," I didn't know what to say so curiosity got the better of me, "Was she the only one?"

"No." I was a bit surprised by his answer.

I raised my eyebrow, "You?"

"Hell no."

"There was another woman in our group," Glenn came over to us and leaned against the car by Clementine, "Jacqui."

"Why would anyone do that?" Clem's innocence shown through.

Daryl shrugged, "Figured the world was so fucked up, no fixing it, I guess."

Glenn continued for him, "That this kind of life wasn't worth living."

My eyebrows furrowed, "That's stupid." I looked to Clementine, and a part of me worried that maybe one day she'd have that same thought, the one I had a couple times before I ran into her. I patted her shoulder, "There's always hope."

She nodded and ate the last bite of her bar before hopping down to the asphalt, "I'm going to go see if Dale can show me how to keep watch."

"Okay," I smiled at her, "You be nice to him."

After she was safe on top of the RV with Dale, Daryl turned to me, "That what you think?"

"What?" I popped the rest of my food in my mouth and chewed it down.

"That there's hope? Or you just saying that for her?" He nodded to the RV.

I stared at Clementine, perched beside Dale, gazing intently into her new binoculars. "Before I found her I might've thought different," I smiled slightly, "But then I found her; she's living proof that there's hope out here."

Glenn was next to question me, "How long was it before you found her?"

"Couple months," I shrugged, "She had been with people almost the whole time before."

"They die?" I saw Glenn wince at Daryl's words. He was part of Clementine's old group at one point, after all.

"Yeah, most of them at least," I glanced from Glenn to Daryl as I spoke, "She told me about it. They were good people, really cared for her."

"Yeah they were," Glenn's voice was sullen as he looked to the ground, I hadn't heard him sound like that yet, it made my heart heavy for a second. He looked back up to me, "What about you?"

I couldn't hide the offense in my voice, "Of course I care about her."

Daryl shook his head and rephrased Glenn's question, "Who were _you_ with?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Glenn beat me to it, "Didn't Lori say you were married to Rick's brother?"

"No," my tone was angrier than I'd been in weeks, "We _were_ engaged, for a few years, but he never set a date." I looked to the both of them, "But to answer your question, I was alone from the start," I nodded to the RV, "until I found her."

Glenn's face contorted, "Shit."

"Yeah," I brushed off the tone of concern in his exclamation, "I started to really lose it when I finally found my parents. They were…" I shuddered at the thought of my mom and dad, bodies decaying, walking around and snapping at me through the glass. I shook the thought away, "Lucky we teamed up a few days later, or I might've just opted out myself."


End file.
